Some computing environments and configurations include one or more virtual machines (VMs) operating on a hardware server. Network management personnel or systems may need to perform a discovery from time to time to learn about elements in the network. Many of the traditional, non-virtual network elements may have static parameters. However, in a virtualized environment, VMs may not be static and may change parameters (or characteristics) over time (e.g., a VM may move from one physical server to a different physical server).
A problem can occur in a virtualized environment when VMs change parameters between the times that discovery operations are performed. The same VM may be added two times to a list of network elements, once during the first discovery operation and then a second time when a subsequent discovery operation is performed. Also, some conventional discovery protocols such as link level discovery protocol (IEEE 802.1ab) and CDP may not handle discovery of virtual machines.
Thus, there may be a need for network management systems to have an ability to discover and identify virtual entities (e.g., virtual machines) even when a parameter associated with the virtual entity changes.
Embodiments were conceived in light of the above mentioned needs, problems and/or limitations, among other things.